After another 3 billion in US funding, Ukrainian MPs increase salary 70 percent

While the Ukraine itself is collapsing economically as a result of the war and the Eastern European country is dependent on foreign financial aid, the MPs are increasing their salaries by 70 percent. That doesn’t make a good picture.

Now that there is effectively no opposition left in the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, after party bans, the “servants of the people”, as Zelenskyj’s party is called, are obviously taking advantage of the situation shamelessly for themselves. Because although the former Soviet republic is in a state of war and the country’s economy is collapsing as a result, approved the deputies themselves a hefty increase in salaries by 70 percent. Officially you want it no additional funds from the state budget or from the funds of the international donors, but where do the politicians want to get it from?

One could argue that the increase from 28,800 hryvnia to 49,600 hryvnia (equivalent to around 1,300 euros) does not make the Ukrainian MPs the best-paid politicians in Europe – but such a decision does not go down well, especially in these times. After all, more and more Ukrainians are living in poverty, since the Russian invasion is bringing economic life to a standstill. A minimum wage of 6,500 hryvnia (about 175 euros) a month does not get you very far in Ukraine either. On the other hand, there are also many oligarchs and entrepreneurs in the Rada who have assets of several million euros and are not dependent on several hundred euros more a month. That makes things even bolder.

Given that the “dick pianist” loudly “Pandora Papers” has enough dirt on its own and Ukraine is one of the most corrupt countries in Europe, such developments should not necessarily come as a surprise. Just as little as the fact that obviously huge amounts of war equipment donated for the army seep